i have done more than 50 backroll attemps, the rotation is perfect as i always land on my board but lose the handle...i know if the handle stays in my hand that it will be done but i cant seems to keep it in my hand when i land... should i ductape my hands to the handle?

Kevin more than likely its not your grip that was the problem. I spent like a year doing the same thing you are doing now. I would land the flip but drop the rope. I always thought that it was my grip but really I just wasn't edging right. Try to really set it up with a slow edge and then look up over your left shoulder to do it. After I changed my edge I immediately started to land them very consistently. You are currently probably ducking your head down to your chest which will result in the handle getting pulled out.

Are you landing with two hands on the handle? You should be. If you use two hands, and keep the handle close to your chest you will NOT let go of the handle. I promise. I had the same problem when I learned that trick back in the day. I would land perfectly, but with one hand extended out, and it would always pop out. The first time I kept 2 hands on it, AND brought the handle into my chest during the whole flip, I landed it easily. Once you are comfortable with the trick, you won't need to hold onto it with two hands anymore, but when learning it, it is essential.

mike, if you are still there...just for reference, do you reccomend the head over the left shoulder (regular), or the head tucked to the right shoulder (regular) on a HS roll? I have heard a lot of conflicting ideas on this, as Briscoe had me trying tucked to my back shoulder, not looking over my front...

I've never heard of tucking your head to your trailing shoulder. You should edge away from the boat with a snap off the wake (less snap for large wake, more for small wake), while turning your head to look over your leading shoulder.

Theoretically, you could point your head anywhere you want if you can decouple your head motion from your body. But I think that your head leads your body and keeping them independant is an additional skill that would need to learned.

Head looking over your front shoulder (for goofy look over your right, and for regular look over your left). Your head placement will help your flipping direction. For a standard textbook back roll, I'd position it over my lead shoulder. For a mexican style back roll, I would either tuck my chin into my chest, or possibly look under my rear shoulder like you explained above. All of this depends on what style of back roll you are trying to do. Their isn't necessarily a "wrong" way. If you are keeping two hands on the handle, then obviously you need to do the textbook style version, and not the mexican style version. If you are using one hand, then you probably want to do the mexican style version.

**Sidenote - For people that don't know what I mean when I say "mexican" back roll... A mexiacn back roll is almost like doing a perfect front flip (not a sideways wakeboard front flip, but a normal front flip where you flip completely straight forward). It is basically the exact opposite rotation as a Tantrum (or close to the exact opposite).

You most liekly aren't squaring up to the wake enough. Visualize in your head what is happening. The only way you wan be coming down and hitting the rope with your board is if you are flippingyour upper body too much towards the boat. If you do that same flip, but just roate the whole thing 45 degrees, then you will be doing a flip perpendicular to the back of the boat (like a tantrum), and the rope will not be in the same line as your board. So, you need to square up to the wake a bit more at take off. Or, you need to adjust your flip, so that you rotate your flip slightly to where you square up during the first half of the flip. Most likely the first option is better (just trying to square up more before take-off).

Jaimie, that's what I used to do. Now I usually land pretty close. Still haven't "stuck" one, but I'm close. Now I even keep my eyes open, because I stopped landing on my face. It's easier to spot the landing this way.

Robb - Makes sence..lol but yea im gonna try to work on that as much as possible. Im still tryin to get the stuff i can do down so its consistent every time, but i need to land that backroll. I need to get out on the trampoline and work on it there. I can do them on the tramp no problem but havent for a while. Guess thats my task for the day Jamie

I'm still not an expert on this trick but I can share what I've learned. When I started with this trick I kept dropping the rope as well. I found that if I launched in the seated position then I would drop the rope. When I started hitting it in the standing position, I could hold onto it. Makes sense, the way you leave is the way you land. Give that a try. I'm still working on it.